Introducing the new totally air-conditioned Columbia City Cinema. The three auditoriums have always been like a cool breeze off the water during a movie but now, just in time for our heat wave, we finally got the ac unit that's been sitting on the roof for a year hooked up. Glacier-cool breezes finally blow through the upstairs and downstairs lobbies and through the world headquarters offices of your neighborhood cinema. Hooray! Come see a movie and feel those breezes yourself.

Nature Drawing Friday July 31st from 1 to 2:30 pm. Think like a scientist and see like an artist with the Nature Consortium. Using real objects in nature, learn to draw images that capture the natural world and create a journal that reflects your environment. For ages 7 - adult. Registration required. This class is full

Evening Book Group Wednesday Aug. 6th from 6:45 to 7:45pm. Join us for a book discussion at the Columbia Branch. Everyone is welcome. This month's title is The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain. Pick up your copy at the Information Desk!

Bree Loewen reads Pickets and Dead Men Thursday Aug. 6th from 6:30 to 8pm. Bree Loewen shares her experiences as a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier, where respect is hard won and on-the-job performance can be the difference between life and death.

Watercolor workshop Tuesday Aug. 11th from 1 to 3pm. Join us for a free watercolor class! For ages 7-12. Registration required. This class is full

Summer Reading Come to the library to sign up, find out about summer events, and win prizes!

Library programs are free and open to the public. Everyone is invited to attend.

Heritage Parade and Summer Streets Festival

Saturday August 8 is the Rainier Valley Heritage Parade and Summer Streets Festival! Rainier Ave will be open to pedestrians from Orcas to Alaska Streets.

The parade is 11-12 followed by the festival from 12-3.

Rainier Ave will be sectioned off for different festival activities. Beginning in Hillman City and traveling north the sections will be: Fitness St, Health & Beauty St., Art St, Sustainable St, Music St and Restaurant Row will be in Columbia City.

Columbia Citizens meet facebook

Now you can get your Wikli fix via facebook. If you "fan" our page, you'll get Wikli alerts and the first post of every discussion thread, straight to your news feed.

This seems to be another good way for Citizens to self-identify and share information. Facebook isn't a wiki, so it won't replace what we're doing here. But facebook might make it easier to connect with the friends of our friends — a useful tool in this neighborhood. So let's see if this helps with the community building we do here — check it out.

Christo de Klerk kicked off a Columbia City group awhile back, and it's grown to well over 500 members. If you're a facebook member in the "Seattle, WA" network, you can join and invite your neighbors.

It's time for the next community meeting to help design the park at Juneau and 46th!

The park's steering committee has been working with John Barker to flesh out some possible park designs based on initial input from the community. He'll be presenting some design drawings at the meeting for the community to comment on.

If you couldn't make the last meeting, here's your chance to participate!

The meeting will be Wednesday, July 29th, at 7:00 pm, at the park site at 46th Avenue South and South Juneau Street. (There'll be a tent in case of rain).

After the meeting enjoy food and drinks with your neighbors. Beer and wine this time.

There are plenty of August 4 block parties to choose from, and neighbors have put up their own wiki-pages. If you plan to pitch in, please contact organizers directly, or go ahead and update your party's page.

abbeynorris has created a new page for Park(ing) Day 2009, a "one-day, global event to highlight the need for more urban open space, rethink the way green space can happen, and improve the quality of urban human habitat". This year it's on September 18.